


Come Catch Me, Cowboy

by RavenclawPianist



Series: No You Can't Feed the Tigers [4]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/M, lincoln is hot, octavia makes impulsive decisions, prequel to the rest of the series (kind of), wrangling goats is surprisingly attractive to me, zoo au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-04
Updated: 2016-06-04
Packaged: 2018-07-12 03:26:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7083253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenclawPianist/pseuds/RavenclawPianist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Octavia's made a lot of impulsive decisions in her life, but deciding to work at a zoo based on one hot zookeeper might be one of the best.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Come Catch Me, Cowboy

**Author's Note:**

> Again, based on my rediculous crush on Alligator Guy, who I actually did see wrangling goats a few weeks ago and inspired this fic. If he were ever to find out how many fics he's inspired, I might have to be embarrassed.

“Hey,” Octavia grinned across the admission’s counter at the girl with messy dark hair on the other side. “I’m here to see Bellamy Blake.”

The girl smiled. “You must be Octavia! Bellamy left a note saying you’d be stopping by. Give me a moment and I’ll radio him.”

Octavia nodded, glancing around the gift shop while the girl relayed the message over radio. The shop was tidy, although small. T-shirts lined one wall while stuffed animals took up another. Standing towers of postcards, magnets, hats, and other memorabilia were scattered around the rest of the shop. Almost everything bore the logo of the Ark Zoo. 

She was flipping through a book of animal facts when the door at the back of the shop opened and Bellamy entered, beaming at her. “Hey, O!”

She hugged him briefly before punching his shoulder lightly. “Look at you! My big brother the zookeeper, all set to handle dangerous animals.”

He laughed. “I’m working with the reptiles today. Want to see the employee side of the reptile house?”

“Duh,” she said, following him as they entered the zoo. He showed her around the zoo for a while, pointing out the animals he worked with and introducing her to a few of his coworkers. They were by the hoovestock yards when his radio beeped. 

“Bellamy, could you stop by the alligator enclosure? We’re prepping for its arrival tomorrow and need some input.”

He unclipped the radio from his belt. “Yeah, I’ll be right there.” Bellamy looked over at Octavia. “You going to be okay here for a bit?”

She nodded. “I think I’ll be okay by the llamas, Bell. Go work.”

He grinned at her before heading off on the gravel path. She walked in the other direction, following the path around the farm animals. 

She stopped to watch when she saw a group of sheep and goats in one enclosure running around. With some surprise, she realized they were being chased by a zookeeper in the enclosure with them. The zookeeper was tall and large, shoulders broad with muscles under his uniform khaki shirt. Tattoos wound around his arms and disappeared under his sleeves. His head was shaved except for a very short Mohawk down the center.

Octavia leaned against the fence, watching as he ran from one end of the enclosure to the other, obviously trying to wrangle two of the animals specifically. The targets appeared to be two brown and white sheep with a matching pair of curling horns. They were fast, but the zookeeper was right behind them the entire time as they raced around. 

She’d never really understood the appeal of cowboys- why some girls went weak at the knees when they saw a guy on a horse or lassoing cattle. Watching this guy jump over the small rock walls in the enclosure as he chased after the two sheep, she had to reconsider her previous opinions. She could see the muscles in his back and arms ripple as he cornered the sheep and pulled one of them towards the other end of the enclosure by its horns. After he closed the gate behind the first sheep he went back for the second one, cornering it much more quickly. Once the gate was securely closed behind him and the sheep were stuck in the smaller part of the enclosure with him, he fashioned a quick halter out of some rope and used it to tie the sheep to the fence while he crouched down to check its hooves.

“Have you ever done rodeo?” Octavia asked idly as she moved to lean against the part of the fence closer to him. 

He looked up from the sheep’s hooves. “Sorry?” His voice was surprisingly soft for such a large man.

“Have you ever done rodeo?” she repeated, grinning. “Because you definitely look like you get enough practice here.”

He laughed, a nice warm sound. “No, I never really thought of that. I guess I should think of entering next time the rodeo comes through.”

She watched as he gently lifted one of the sheep’s hooves and scraped some mud off the bottom before using a hoof clipper to clean the edges. “Have you worked here long?”

He nodded. “Going on two years now.”

“What other animals do you work with?” she asked, watching how carefully he handled the animal. 

He checked another hoof. “All the hooved animals and birds,” he replied. “On different days, of course.”

“Which do you like more?” she asked. 

He shrugged, standing and untying the sheep from the fence. It darted away from him as he went to grab the other sheep. As he tied the second sheep into place, he shrugged. “Both have their benefits,” he answered. “The birds are fun, but the goats other hooved animals have a lot of personality.”

“Goats have personality?” she repeated, grinning again. 

“More than some people,” he joked, grinning up at her from his crouch by the sheep’s hooves. She felt the breath catch in her lungs at the brightness of his eyes and smile.

“Hey, O!” Bellamy appeared beside her. “Lincoln, how’s it going man?”

Lincoln shrugged, cleaning off another hoof. “The usual. Ready for tomorrow?”

“We better be,” Bellamy remarked, running a hand over his hair. “I don’t think anyone knows what we’re going to do with the alligator.” He glanced at Octavia. “By the way, this is my sister. Octavia, meet Lincoln.”

“I think we already covered that part,” Octavia smiled at Lincoln. “But it’s nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” Lincoln smiled up at her. “I’d offer to shake your hand, but-” he showed her his muddy and dusty hands. 

She laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll have another chance for a handshake.”

Lincoln grinned at her again, bright and breathtaking. Bellamy cleared his throat. “Right, well, we should keep going. O, want to see the snakes?”

She winked at Lincoln before turning to follow her brother. “Hey Bell?” she asked. “Are there any open zookeeping positions right now?”

 

Her impulsiveness had led her into quite a few interesting situations over the years, Octavia mused as she zipped through the morning traffic. She’d gotten a butterfly tattoo across her back at the age of eighteen after a bad breakup with her first boyfriend and an equally terrible fight with Bellamy. She’d spent a week on a beach in Mexico her junior year of college when she decided to change her spring break plans at the last minute. She’d bought a motorcycle without even knowing how to ride it just because she liked the way the chrome shone in the sunlight. Octavia was no stranger to impulse decisions. As she parked her motorcycle in the Employee Parking lot next to the gift shop, Octavia couldn’t help but think this was the best impulse she’d ever had. 

Even if Bellamy was convinced she was going to change her mind after two weeks. 

She let herself into the zookeeper breakroom, opening the little locker that already had her name on it and dropping her purse into it. She grinned at the two people sitting at the table in the corner. “Hey, it’s Jasper and Anya, right?”

The girl nodded, standing and flipping her long brown braid over her shoulder. “You must be Octavia,” she looked her up and down before shrugging. “I guess you’ll do. Come on, I’m supposed to get you trained in on Area Five today.”

“That’s the small mammals, right?” Octavia clarified. 

Anya sighed. “Yeah. Grab a radio and let’s get started.”

 

Octavia didn’t see Lincoln until the end of her first day. She was riding with Anya in one of the little electric carts the keepers used to get around the zoo quickly as they checked to make sure all the guests were heading for the zoo exit for the end of open hours. Lincoln was walking along the path towards the keeper breakroom, a large Tupperware under one arm. 

“Mind if I hop out?” Octavia asked Anya. “I’m kind of in the mood to walk.”

Anya shrugged. “I’m not slowing down.”

Octavia grinned. “Fair enough.” She hopped out of the moving vehicle just in time to fall into step with Lincoln. “Hey stranger.”

He grinned back at her. “I heard you were starting today. How was it?”

“Awesome,” she replied. “The foxes already like me. Minnie rubbed up against my legs like a cat.”

“She does that a lot,” he said. “She’s a sweetheart.”

“Were you with the birds today?” she asked, gesturing to the Tupperware.

He nodded. “Just about to head out.”

“Me too,” Octavia volunteered. “Any big plans tonight?”

“Nothing that can’t be rescheduled,” he said, eyes on her.

A grin spread slowly over her face. “How about you take me out for a drink?”

“Bellamy might kill me if I take his baby sister drinking,” Lincoln commented. “How about dinner instead?”

“Even better,” she agreed. 

 

Lincoln let himself into the sheep enclosure, grinning at Octavia as she leaned against the fence. “You sure you don’t want to help me catch them this time?”

She shook her head, grinning back. “I happen to like the view.”

Best impulse decision ever.


End file.
